These cheesy bites puff in the oven and taste like gougères, aka fancy French cheese puffs, but this recipe makes them way easier. Check out a step-by-step here.

Ingredients

Makes about 15

1 17-ounce package frozen puff pastry, thawed

All-purpose flour (for surface)

1 large egg, beaten to blend

2 ounces finely grated Parmesan cheese (about ½ cup)

1½ teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper

Preparation

Real Talk: Yes, rolling up the pastry at both long ends into a log and making fancy palmiers is sure to impress your guests, but if you’re truly in a pinch before party time, you can roll up the log like a cinnamon roll before cutting up into pieces. But only if you’re really that behind!

Preheat oven to 400°. Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface just to smooth out any creases. If you’re using a package of pastry that has 2 sheets, simply stack the sheets and roll out to a rectangle between ¼"–⅛" thick. Brush surface with egg wash (which is just a beaten egg that will make the dough a beautiful color after baking) and sprinkle cheese evenly over, followed by pepper.

Okay, here comes the fun part: With 1 long side facing you, fold both long sides in toward the center line so the edges meet in the middle (do not overlap); press down gently to flatten. Brush exposed pastry with egg wash. Now roll the sides you just folded lengthwise toward the center to form a double-spiral log with a seam running down the middle. Squeeze all along length of log to adhere. Roll whole log away from you 90° so seam is facing away from you. Trim about ½” off 1 end to clean up the edge, then slice log crosswise into ½”-thick pieces (you should have about 15).